


Adventures in Babysitting

by lanyon



Series: Medvezhonok [2]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies)
Genre: Kidfic, murderfluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-27
Updated: 2014-06-27
Packaged: 2018-02-06 12:15:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 971
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1857672
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lanyon/pseuds/lanyon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Tony Stark babysits Bucky Barnes' son. It goes about as well as expected.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Adventures in Babysitting

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Feanor_in_leather_pants](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Feanor_in_leather_pants/gifts).



> +This is a coda to _[Medvezhonok](http://archiveofourown.org/works/520028/chapters/919041)_. If you feel disinclined to read that in advance, all you need to know is that, in this non- _Captain America: The Winter Soldier_ -compliant 'verse, Bucky Barnes has a biological son, courtesy of the wonders of medical science.  
> +This is for **feanorinleatherpants** , whose wonderful illustrations for _Medvezhonok_ are s fantastic and so appreciated. Huge thanks to you for the art and also, to you and your buddy for the naming convention of teddy bears...

Ideally, this wouldn’t be necessary. There are only three people Bucky trusts to watch Stefan. 

The first is, obviously, Steve, who has barely let Bucky out of his sight since Bucky rocked up to New York in a cherry red GTO with a child-seat. 

The second is, unsurprisingly, Pepper Potts, who Stefan flat-out adores and though Bucky suspects the intensity of emotion isn’t quite mutual. 

The third is, to the surprise of all, Nick Fury, who reduces Stefan to quiet admiration. (Bucky has learned to appreciate the quiet moments during life with a four year-old.)

If Bucky’s list extended beyond these three, the very last person on it would be Tony Stark.

And yet, here they are.

The only saving grace is that Tony is being supervised by JARVIS. 

.

“They’re all called Bucky! Every last one of them!”

“What the hell are you talking about, Stark?” asks Clint. He’s not supposed to be here but Stark locked down his penthouse, just as soon as Clint walked in. (The team that babysits together, et cetera.)

“Barnes Junior! He has, like, eight thousand bears -”

_Actually, it’s twenty-two, sir_ , intones JARVIS.

“ _Eight thousand bears_ ,” says Tony, “And they’re all called Bucky. Even the one in the _specially rendered Iron Man suit_ made for him _by Iron Man_ , with an engraved chestplate that says _I am Iron Man_.”

“I feel this is less about how much the kid hero-worships his dad and more about-”

Tony looks like he’s about to say something but Clint cuts him off. “No, Stark. No. If you want to get into Daddy issues, you chose the wrong peer group.” He frowns. “Wait. Why the hell are you looking after him? I thought Barnes said-”

“He saw the error of his ways. I have excellent child-caring experience.”

“Bribing a ten year-old in Tennessee with a car doesn’t count as child-caring. You know this, right?”

Tony shrugs. “Whatever. Kids love me.”

.

“Papa says I can’t go in there,” says Stefan. 

“It’s perfectly _safe_ ,” says Tony. “And I’ll be supervising.”

Stefan looks up at him with the sort of scepticism that simply shouldn’t be in the repertoire of a four year-old. 

“Papa _says_.”

“Do you always do what your Papa says?”

Now the scepticism is mixed in with frank disbelief and Tony gets the unnerving impression that Stefan thinks he’s an idiot. “I’m not allowed in your work-room and ‘ _specially_ when you’re the only adult here.”

“How about we get Clint down here, too?”

Stefan screws up his face, deep in thought. It’s pretty clear he’s not sure if Clint’s on the list of approved adults. It’s really a question for the ages. 

“It’s probably okay,” says Stefan slowly. “If you know what you’re doing.”

“If I-?” Tony spluttered and clutches his chest. “Listen, I’ve known what I was doing long before you were a glint in -” He stops. “No, actually. Probably not that long. Your Papa is pretty old.”

Stefan studies him. “You look older though.”

“Keep it up, kid, and you’ll talk yourself out of a fully-funded ride through MIT.” 

As threats go, it is ineffective.

.

“Okay,” says Stefan. 

“Okay?”

Stefan nods. “Okay.”

He puts his hand into Tony’s which is the sort of demonstration of trust that no one has really shown Tony since the last juvenile delinquent gave him his sister’s watch. 

Best not to dwell too long on how that turned out.

.

Stefan is like a kid in a candy store. Tony’s not sure how much of it is precociousness and how much is a sugar rush from the sodas in the workshop fridge but he seems to be enjoying himself. 

“You have a lot of cars,” observes Stefan. 

“I do,” says Tony.

“And computers,” says Stefan, with a flattering degree of admiration.

“Oh! What’s that?” Stefan runs off to a far corner of the workroom where there’s a dust-sheet gathering dust. 

.

It was inevitable that it was going to end in tears.

.

“How about we call your Papa?”

Stefan nods, hiccuping a little.

.

“Papa, I miss you and I want into Tony’s work-room and he has _robots_ and I fell over but -”

“Stepushka? Put Tony on the phone.”

“Good news, Papa Bear. You’re on speaker-phone.”

“Tony,” says Bucky.

“Bucky,” says Tony, like calling him by his preferred name is going to make everything okay.

“What happened to my son?” 

“Like he said. There was a little accident.” And, wow, Tony can actually _hear_ Bucky growling at the other end of the line.

“What _happened_ , Stark?” 

“Ah, Cap. How’s the mission going?”

“Apparently better than your adventures in babysitting.”

“Hey,” says Tony. “That’s a movie. Like, a shitty 80s movie with a pseudo-Thor-”

“I know,” says Steve. “I saw it. What happened to Stefan?”

“I’m okay, Steve,” says Stefan and his cheeks go a little pink and Tony can only marvel that the fear of disappointing Captain America has already been engendered in such a small child. It’s a powerful weapon and should probably be harnessed for world peace instead of for making Tony feel like he’s let down his _dad_. “I fell over and Dummy caught me but I banged my knee and it hurt-”

“ _Stark_ -”

“I know, I know. This is why I can’t have nice things. But he’s fine! Right as rain! It didn’t have to come off or anything and even if it _did_ , prosthetics are my strong suit.”

“ _Stark_ -” It sounds even worse in stereo.

“No, Papa,” says Stefan, sounding a little upset. “I’m _okay_.”

“He is okay,” says Stark. “In fact, he’s so okay that we’re going to head over to Fifth Avenue now and build a bear in that store where you build bears.”

Stefan’s excitement is audible and shrill.

.

“Let me guess,” says Tony, taking Stefan by the hand and leading him away from danger. “You’re gonna call him Bucky.”


End file.
